White Pocket, Coconino County

About White Pocket

White Pocket features swirling, multicolored Navajo sandstone formations including domes, hoodoos, gullies and potholes across one square mile of the remote Paria Plateau in Coconino County. Visitors hike an off-trail loop of roughly two miles with up to 200 feet of elevation change, rated easy to moderate difficulty. The site sits six miles southeast of the more famous Coyote Buttes within Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. Light grey and white dominate the rock colors here, contrasting with the red formations found elsewhere on the plateau. The landscape features thin-layered strata with adjacent layers of contrasting shades and distinctive erosive patterns carved into the stone. Access requires a long drive on unpaved roads across sandy plains, with some stretches demanding a high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicle. The surrounding terrain is sparsely vegetated with bushes and small trees, emphasizing the isolated pocket of unusual geology.